he said, she said

it’s the big day and i’m going to see how much i can update throughout the day since i’ve got the whole morning to do…well, pretty much nothing. christi, on the other hand, has hair appointments, make up appointments, and all sorts of other things. me? not so much. but let me tell you about the ordeal i had so far before the wedding!

so, the night before the wedding, a bunch of us are in the hotel room working on last minute things for the wedding. for the day before the wedding, i’m staying with my family in their condo. i got to their condo at about midnight and i ring the doorbell.

*ding dong*

nothing. i ring it again.

*ding dong*

the lights are already on in the house, i double check the address. still, nothing.

i call my brother. it rings to voicemail. i call my sister. it rings to voicemail. i call my dad. it, too, rings to voicemail.

i’m standing outside the condo, waiting for something to happen, but nothing does. i call my brother again. voicemail. i call yet again to everyone. still nothing.

at this point, i’m thinking to myself, “great. it’s the day before my wedding and i’m HOMELESS.”

i’m about to start calling my friends that are in the area to see if i can crash at their place for the night.  so i decide to call my dad one last time to leave a message that i’m not going to be staying with them because NO ONE IS LETTING ME IN and that i’ll stay with some friends.

a very groggy dad answers the phone and tells me the front door is unlocked.  i try the door and it isn’t.  i tell him as much and he gets up and opens the door for me.  saved!  i have a place to sleep for the night.

i’m going to start thinking about getting ready soon.  i still have a few hours.

everyone said that the day would fly by so fast that it would all be a blur. not true! i remember every moment of our wedding day.

but rather than bore you with a minute-by-minute account of the day, here are some lowlights and highlights.

these are some of the things that went “wrong”, that i will do differently or pay more attention to for my next wedding. just kidding, baby!

• my bustle was sewn incorrectly, and i didn’t notice it until the night before the wedding! mimi stayed up with me until 4am the night before my wedding, fixing it! thanks chickie!
• my hairstylist talked me out of the hairstyle i wanted. i wanted to leave loose strands of hair around my face, but she said that it would blow around too much in the wind. i don’t like the way my hair looked, so perfectly tucked. i should have stuck with my instincts.
• i hated my makeup. when the makeup lady was done with me, i swear, i looked like a hooker. i made her take off the heavy eyeliner, change the shiny pink lip gloss to a more neutral matte color, and remove the blush. then after she left, i took off more of the makeup, but it was still too much. and i couldn’t get that silvery eyeshadow off my face! i hated it!!! yuck!!!
• the entire day ran about 45 minutes late. there was obviously some miscommunication between our wedding planner and the hotel. as a result, we were rushing to get photos done before sunset, and we missed the combined family photo =(
• the pink plumerias that i ordered were supposed to be scattered on the dinner tables, not in the aisle at the ceremony. i was very specific about not wanting pink flowers in the aisle, and i was very specific about wanting them on the tables so that i (and our guests) could enjoy them. boohoo.

but despite all of those things, the wedding was beautiful and the day far exceeded my expectations. mike and i talked about what our favorite part of the day was, but i honestly don’t have just one. it was all pretty terrific. here are some of the moments that stand out in my mind.

• spending time with friends the night before our wedding. some came over to help assemble favors, will (who else?) brought alcohol, and some just came to hang out. it was nice to be surrounded by so many close friends.
• breakfast with will, one my oldest and dearest friends.
• being surprised with a delicious lunch (compliments of will) for the entire bridal party, while we were getting ready in my hotel room.
• receiving phone calls from friends who couldn’t be there, but wanted me to know that they love me and were thinking of us on our wedding day.
• reading the message in the card from my husband-to-be as i was getting all dolled up for the big day
• spending a moment with my entire family before they headed down to the beach for the start of the processional
• seeing mike for the first time that day, as i walked down the aisle with my dad
• finding a way to include alyssa and mimi in our wedding ceremony
• the beautiful ceremony performed by father george
• peeking into our beautifully decorated banquet room before guests made their way in from the cocktail reception. i was so excited to see our guest book table arranged so nicely and our flip flop placecards placed in sand, just as i had requested.
• dancing with my dad. we were a mess and probably made fools of ourselves, but we had a great time doing it!
• pizza delivery for mike. the hotel wouldn’t allow outside food, so the chef made the pizza. but greg had gone into town to get a little caesar’s pizza box for full effect! thanks greg!
• the donut cake. mike loved it. this was his favorite part of the wedding =P it didn’t really taste like boston cream pie, but it was delicious. in fact, all of our cakes were delicious!
• kissing scoreboards! i thought i was the sneaky one planning all the surprises, but some of our wedding guests (led by john and greg) surprised us with scoreboards to judge our kisses. scores ranged from 1 to 10, “eww gross” to “get a room”. haha!
• first dance with my husband. i loved how we sang the entire song to each other — totally unplanned.
• having the opportunity to spend a few minutes with every single person at our wedding. that’s the nice thing about small weddings =)
• actually hearing the 80′s freestyle music that i had requested from the DJ. i didn’t think he’d actually have it! and of course, ending the night with “promiscuous” =P i loved our DJ — he was fantastic.
• seeing our omikuji wire frame all filled up with colored paper tied to the wires. it was a beautiful sight to behold. thank you greg eng!
• trashing my dress — twice! the next day, mike and i went down to the beach and got sandy, wet, and dirty. paul and leeya photographed it. why twice? well, after we finished with the first trashing, paul realized that there was no memory in his camera! so we did it again! haha! it was so much fun. thanks paul and leeya! i can’t wait to see the photos!
• getting a little sister and (another) little brother and another set of really wonderful parents
• how easily and naturally i refer to mike as my husband. “fiance” was an adjustment, but “husband” just seems right.

whoa. i guess there more than just a few great moments from our wedding day. thank you to everyone who helped make our wedding day so special and so memorable. and of course, a special thank you to our wedding party who helped keep me sane during the days prior to the wedding, and helped make our dream wedding a reality =) muah!

photos are forthcoming!